U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will soon announce the fiscal year 2025 H-1B cap lottery process. Taft’s Immigration practice group encourages U.S. employers to identify current and future employees who will need H-1B visa status in 2025.
Interested employers should be aware that a new USCIS Final Fee Rule could be published within the next few weeks, which would raise the H-1B electronic registration fee from $10 to $215, an increase of 2050%, and the H-1B petition filing fee from $460 to $780, an increase of 70%. During a recent USCIS public engagement activity, USCIS confirmed the H-1B electronic registration fee will not go into effect this year. However, the H-1B petition filing fee increase could be in effect by the time H-1B petitions can begin to be filed for selected registrations.
Additionally, employers should note that USCIS recently issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to amend H-1B regulations to, in its words, “modernize and improve the efficiency of the H-1B program, add benefits and flexibilities, and improve integrity measures.” The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) describes the changes made by the NPRM, as follows:
As referenced in the final bullet point, the NPRM contains a provision that would change the way USCIS selects H-1B cap registrations. Instead of selecting by employer registration, USCIS would select registrations by unique beneficiary.
Both the fee increase and H-1B amendment provisions require a USCIS-issued final rule to go into effect. The proposed rule may be revised before final rule publication.
Employers seeking H-1B status for current or potential employees should contact the Taft Immigration team to avoid missing the H-1B “cap season” and to stay up-to-date on H-1B fees and governing regulations.
Read More: taftlaw